This week I’ve been mostly stuck in hospital. I’ll say more when they know what’s actually wrong. Hopefully in time for tomorrow’s weekly update. However I wanted to post something up earlier about the use of IT during my stay and how things have changed, a lot!
The last time I was in a NHS hospital for any decent period of time was at 14. I was an emergency admission and ended up being in for nearly a week. This time, similar situation.
Geeks hate hospitals. Pure and simply, it is just sooooo boring! When I was 14 there was only dial up I internet in the UK so nothing in a hospital. If you were lucky enough to own a mobile phone, it would be an analog one. So no text messages, no mobile browsing. More to the point they were outright banned. Good thing too really, the old phones could actually stop a pacemaker!
So as a teenager there was nothing. A TV on the wall somewhere on the ward. That was analog too, so very poor picture indeed and small too. That would inevitably be stuck on BBC1 so nothing too exciting to watch either. So one would rely on visitors a lot more.
Fast forward to today. I’m writing this on my iPad which is using my Nexus One as a portable access point. I have my own flat screen tv and phone and sockets that nurses won’t kill you for plugging stuff into.
The tv and phone is provided using PatientLine. It claims to have internet too. However, with entirety of wards all playing farmville, my phone is faster. Although the TV is served using Sky, then picture is still served via analog. That sense odd to me, as digital would be cheaper to transmit. Especially as the analog would need more shielding in a medical environment,
One of the doctors asked me, “How is the iPad. Is it as good as they say?”. My answer was, “Its great when you are confined to a hospital bed”. It is.
Laptops are too cumbersome when you are in hospital. Doctors and nurses come and go. They are very pressed for time. The last thing they want to do is wait while you untangle yourself, put the machine to sleep and heave it somewhere safe.
No such hassle with the iPad. I just hit lock and put it down. I charge it while I sleep at night as the battery lasts pretty much all day. It’s also portable enough for me to move around the bed and still be able to read or write, as I’m doing now.
It’s not without fault though. Typing is still awkward. The amount of words I have to delete and rewrite, even as I write this post, is exceptionally frustrating. The main problem being that the modifier keys are just too big and so it’s easy to mistype.
The browser is great while immobile as well. Tapping on links is a lot easier to do than fiddling with a trackpad.
So what do I do with all this connectivity? I get to chat with people in the outside world! So MSN and Google Talk are very helpful. I can still reply to emails and do some basic bits of work. Some might argue I shouldn’t. I take the view that distraction therapy is one of the best!
Of course, I’d rather not be here at all. But that’s another story…
